Immigrants admitted to Canada as young children have a higher post-secondary education rate, and make more money after their mid-20s than the overall Canadian population, according to a newly released report.
The younger a child is when admitted to Canada, the higher the likelihood of post-secondary success, 2021 data analyzed by Statistics Canada found.
Among 20-year-old immigrants for instance, 77.3 percent of those who came to Canada at the age of four or younger participated in post-secondary education compared to 69.9 percent of those admitted from ages 5 to 9 years and 61.3 percent of those admitted from ages 10 to 14 years.
By comparison, only 59.9 percent of 20-year-old tax filers in Canada—including both immigrants and non-immigrants—claimed tuition credits for post-secondary education, StatCan said.
“Immigrants admitted as children appear to have economically benefitted in the long term from their higher incidence of participation in post-secondary education,” the report reads.
At age 20, immigrants who came to Canada as children had lower median wages than the overall Canadian population. This, the data suggests, means most in this demographic were enrolled in post-secondary studies. The numbers change by the time they turn 25, however.
“For people aged 25 to 30 years, the median wages of immigrants admitted as children equalled or surpassed those of all tax filers,” StatCan said. “By age 30, immigrants admitted as children had an average wage of $54,900.”
That’s 17.6 percent higher than the average wage of $46,690 for all Canadian tax filers in Canada of the same age.
Opportunities aren’t the same for all immigrants in Canada, however, according to CIC, a Canadian immigration news website.
Children of economic-class immigrants tend to have the highest rates of post-secondary participation and annual wages in adulthood. Economic-class immigrants are those that come to Canada through Express Entry programs, Provincial Nominee Programs, or Quebec’s Skilled Immigration.
“Economic-class immigrants get approved to come to Canada for their ability to integrate into the labour market,” CIC said in a 2021 blog post. “They arrive in Canada with high levels of human capital: they are young and middle-aged, and demonstrate education, language skills, and in-demand skills that address Canada’s economic needs. As such, the children of economic class immigrants are likely to develop human capital characteristics that mirror that of their parents.”
Family-class immigrants, who are typically sponsored by a Canadian family member of a foreign national, and refugees seeking asylum in Canada are more likely to work than attend post-secondary education.
